


A New Cluster

by solomivan



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Sense8 (TV) Fusion, Animal Death, Assisted Suicide, Don't Have to Know Canon, Don't copy to another site, Eye Trauma, Gen, Murder, Possession, Serious Injuries, Strangulation, Suicide, Vampire Danny, Werewolf Kirsh, witch Perry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:54:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22055143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solomivan/pseuds/solomivan
Summary: The birth of a new cluster and the events after it.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	A New Cluster

**Author's Note:**

> A/N All characters and the world are owned by their creators, and I do not claim any ownership over them.
> 
> Not all characters are in Silas University.
> 
> I'm very grateful to my beta [kuchi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuchi)

Mattie lay on the mattress in the middle of an abandoned church. She was exhausted after constantly hiding from her Mother — Lilita Morgan — the woman who "gave birth" to Mattie's cluster. The latter had managed to preserve a mental bond between herself and her "children" to have an opportunity to monitor them and control their bodies through it. To prevent her from doing this, all eight members constantly used their blockers.

Unfortunately, Lilita found a moment of weakness and sowed doubt and enmity. As a result, two of the sensates had shot each other, each shouting about betrayal. During that event, everyone else in their company had felt like they lost a significant part of themselves. Four other sensates died in a laboratory belonging to Lilita's research group, BPO. They were used as guinea pigs for the experiments. Thus, only Mattie and JP were alive.

Now JP was near her because they knew Mattie would "birth" a new cluster any minute. He held her hand to help her cope with it. She grimaced from an instant, sharp ache in her head. JP started to rub her palm, trying to distract her. He thought about Athena who was "born" from Zeus' forehead. In a moment, the next wave of pain occurred. It was stronger than the previous one. 

Mattie felt like her skull was breaking apart.

She began to show up next to the new sensates. Firstly, she appeared in a chemical laboratory, where a short-hair redhead of undefined gender synthesised a mixture from various tubes and flasks. The researcher noticed Mattie and looked at her just as she vanished. A trace of confusion appeared on the face of the scientist.

Mattie found herself in the lecture hall of a university. On the blackboard were the words, "How to prepare for the apocalypse." Only a blond girl in casual clothes saw her. A guy sitting nearby asked the student, "Betty, what are you staring at? Professor Cochrane just wrote the title of today's class." Betty wanted to say she spied a stranger when she noted that there was no bystander when she looked again. She decided it was no more than a hallucination due to a lack of sleep after a night party.

The third "child" was a middle-height, brown-haired girl in a dormitory room recording her vlog, as a project for Journalism 102, according to the picture on the monitor. She was dressed in a grey polo neck and blue jeans. She stopped speaking when she felt someone else’s presence in her room. "Excuse me! Who the hell are you?" she exclaimed, turning 180 degrees and detecting no-one.

The fourth "newborn" was a tall redheaded athlete in a sports uniform. She stood near the armoury, putting her bow and arrows in their places. She became a bobcat and ran towards Mattie who disappeared right before the large animal jumped.

The fifth was a tall boy in a bar, from the fraternity Zeta Mu, as his black T-shirt claimed. He practically spat his beer, addressing his friends, "Now time for some more fun! Let's race." All of them turned into wolves and sprinted towards the forest. This guy was the biggest of them. He glanced at Mattie for a moment, then ran to overtake his bros.

The next cluster member was another girl in uniform, similar to the aforementioned athlete. She was cleaning her crossbow, which had "Gertrude" engraved on it. She tried to shoot Mattie but the arrow flew through her. The girl winced with irritation.

The second to last sensate was an aproned girl with curly red hair frying a fish on a pan. She finished and used a spell from a book in front of her to levitate the pan to the rack. She was puzzled when she was unable to teleport Mattie away from there.

The final "child" was her vampiric "sister" Mircalla who called herself Carmilla for the last two centuries. She was reading an ancient Sumerian manuscript. Carmilla learnt that language when she had a boring year at the end of the 19th century. She was dressed in her favourite white dress, popular at the balls. Carmilla registered Mattie and smiled briefly, showing her fangs. "So, now I have seven other people in my head, just like you in the past. I hope I'll meet them soon."

Mattie knew she had little time before she vanished, so she started to explain JP's plan to eliminate Lilita. "All of you should detect her by combining your minds. After that, you will reverse your mental links to her. Your 'siblings' should remember to use blockers." Mattie sighed, "I want to say goodbye, kitty. You understand if I remain alive I'll become Lilita's puppet." She hugged Carmilla before fading away.

Mattie's mind returned into her body. She told JP: "I've visited them all. My 'babies' are strong and clever. They'll defeat our sensate Mother, but they need help and advice at first. My sister can provide it because I told her everything connected to the cluster. I remember how confusing our first days in a cluster were. Now it's time for the final part."

JP said, "If only there was another way." He took a revolver from his pocket, loaded it with armour-piercing bullets, and shot Mattie in her head two times. He poured petrol from a canister over the body and set it on fire with his matches. When the body had burned to ashes, he inserted the revolver into his mouth and pulled the trigger.

The next day, after that apparition of an unknown black woman in a luxurious crimson dress, Perry cleaned her kitchen. She recalled how the fish dirtied the pan and its lid. She wanted to finish with the table and move on to clean the window when suddenly she was in a forest. Perry took several steps. This looked too real: an odour of leaves, a sense of wind, the sound of birds.

She saw a red bobcat running for a deer. Her first thought was that this beast was atypical for such an environment. The second — she should hide. But then Perry told herself it would be useless. The predator killed the deer, ripping its throat, and shredded body to pieces. After its feast, it turned into a tall red-haired athlete in the uniform of a sports club. The girl noticed a stranger near her and asked her, "Who are you? How did you end up in the woods? I didn't hear or smell anyone else two minutes ago."

"I'm Perry, a housewife and a witch from the south of Austria. I cannot explain what exactly happened. Five minutes ago I was in house cleaning my pan. Maybe this situation is somehow connected to the vision of that black woman who I saw yesterday." She frowned, "You didn't introduce yourself. By the way, you have blood near your mouth. You should wipe it off with your handkerchief."

Her interlocutor replied, "Danny Lawrence, a final year student from Silas University in southeastern Austria. I'm a vampire. Now I'm training in my animal form. I saw this woman yesterday too."

Perry suddenly returned to her place. She stood off the floor. It looks like she passed out and regained conscience. There was no mud and grass on her boots despite the travel to the forest. Perry understood that only her mind, not the body, had been transported. She finished cleaning and decided to find any useful information about situations similar to her.

LaF was in their biological laboratory in their university. They were preparing a complex of medicines to test on cell culture on an agar plate. In front of LaF appeared a dark-haired girl in red sports uniform with white words "Silas U". LaF had heard about such a university. It was the third most famous Austrian University and only one of five universities in the world openly admitting the supernatural.

The stranger quickly squared up: slightly bent back, fists up front, her left leg behind her right one. LaF soothingly raised their open palms. "I'm Dr. LaFontaine. I can assure you that you're safe. I don't know why you are here. This is a biological laboratory in an R&D center in the north of Austria." LaF added, "This is the second case of an unexpected visit this month. The first one took place yesterday. It was a ghost of a dark-skinned woman in a very expensive red dress."

The girl calmed and introduced herself. "Mel Callis. I think it's only my mind translocated because I’m not holding my crossbow, which was in my hand before. You mentioned your vision. I had the same one one day ago. I think that they are connected yet I cannot say how. Maybe some occult books in my university library have the answer." 

Mel wanted to tell LaF more when she vanished from the laboratory in a moment. LaF was interested in all of these things. "I'll solve the mystery behind recent events."

Carmilla was finishing her philosophy book when she noticed a crowd in front of her: a honey blonde in pajamas decorated with TARDISes from Doctor Who, a platinum blonde in a pink dress with glitter, and a large brown wolf who in a moment became a tall guy in a black t-shirt and blue jeans.

"The reason for the appearance of three people, not just one, during the first connection is the following: somehow I became the cluster's leader and therefore had a stronger mental connection," thought Carmilla, registering the crowd. "I'm similar to my sister, who was visited by four other members including JP."

She saw confused faces and wanted to explain the situation. She decided to quickly find simple phrases to calm down the strangers when her vampiric brother Will entered the room. He passed through the girl in the nerd clothes. Carmilla registered she had started holding her hands together. The others were in tension likewise.

"Don't worry, Cupcake! You aren't a ghost. You are still alive. It's just your mind here. Your body is in your place," said Carmilla, and stepped closer to her, deciding to pat her hand slightly.

Will rolled his eyes, "Kitty, you’re starting to behave like Mattie - talking with the voices in your head. She constantly plays with her imaginary friends: hugs the air, pretends someone is drinking tea with her from her cup, speaks with an invisible man…"

Carmilla facepalmed. "Willy boy, I know that our Mother chose you for your brawn, not your brains. However, even you should understand the gravity of the situation."

Carmilla stared at her brother and spoke with him. "My sister is dead due to the hunt for her cluster. I'm afraid I'm the next target. You forgot how we narrowly escaped the explosion in our train. Don't you remember the meeting with her sensates in that car?"

He answered with slight irritation, 'Well, I recall it now that you mention it. What do you propose to do, constantly hide somewhere with your not so little helpers?"

Carmilla pointed at other people and addressed them and her brother, "My sister's friend suggested a plan to save us. I'll tell you but first of all, I'll explain the situation. I understand you have a gazillion question. Let's try to sort out everything."

She started her speech, "Before we'll begin, please close your eyes and focus on me in your heads. It's necessary to prevent your minds prematurely leaving this place and breaking the mental links. Without them, you might not find me again and remain in danger. Now we should summon the rest of our group to help us."

Carmilla continued, "For this purpose, imagine a circle with us and the other four people. Willy isn't included in it. Put me in its centre. Add a web of connections among all the people in the circle, and concentrate on the whole picture for one minute. When the other members are here, I'll resolve everything."

She, along with the other sensates, followed her recommendations. Then she asked them to open their eyes. To their astonishment, they saw four new people in the room: three redheads and a blonde. All of them were in casual clothes. The two athletes from Silas University silently looked at each other.

"I'm sorry to bother you by summoning you here, but we urgently need to proceed to the plan that will eliminate the threat against everybody in this place. We are mentally interconnected. We are sensates — a new type of humans," Carmilla told others. "We are a cluster. People like us have existed since ancient times. We can use each other’s abilities and knowledge. It'll be needed for our following actions." She added, "We need to find or synthesize a medicine to detect the presence of our enemy."

Carmilla concluded her talk, "There might be some sorcery we can use to combine our minds. We'll register our foe and reverse her mental link to our group — our cluster — to turn her into a dead body. I promise you we'll be safe. Can you contribute anything to stop us from being in danger?"

Danny said, "Me and that raven-haired girl, who just explained everything, are vampires. We along with this guy-werewolf can turn into our animal forms and smell unknown persons or recognise if someone pretended to be one of us. Mel and I are excellent huntresses, so we know how to use weapons and traps in case of necessity."

Mel reminded her, "We have an entire arcane section in our library. But we couldn't conjure it up." 

Perry offered her magical talents, "I'm capable of using enchantments. I guess I can willingly transfer my mind to you to cast a spell together. But before that please mentally visit me and tell me when I should do it."

Carmilla agreed, "Yes, you are right. To perform a mental journey just imagine whom you want to come to and ask them telepathically if it's appropriate. If they say yes, then concentrate on them until you are near them. Touch them to share with them your skills, abilities, and knowledge." 

LaF said, "I'm a Biology Major and a Chemistry Minor. I specialise in brain function and its regulation. I suppose I'll produce the required drug. I want to clarify where we can meet in person to discuss the development of the situation, and use the drug alongside a magical book with the incantation.” 

Laura commented, "As a journalist, I could find something out regarding our enemy. However, I need at least something to begin my search: names, previous locations, business deals…”

Betty responded, "I study preparation for the apocalypse, life during it and afterwards. I'll provide survival tactics in difficult and dangerous situations."

Carmilla replied, "All right. Everyone can leave and do their tasks. We'll meet in the cafeteria of Silas University in a week." She terminated the mental links. People returned to their places.

Danny and Mel came to the library and went to the computer terminal. A search of "conjunction of minds or an increase of telepathic abilities" gave only five results. Two of them were just recommendations. The third was an anthology of theses for an international conference. Danny said, "I've read this work, it has nothing useful for us. We should divide and check the two remaining books. They are on the second and the fourth shelves of the fifth bookcase in the Magic section. 

The first volume was no more than a statistical analysis of the frequency of telepathy. The second work contained a recipe for the potion for enhancing psi-powers. Near it was an instruction on how to protect your thoughts by creating mental barriers. 

Mel and Danny found in the second volume a spell to connect minds. It was a mix of French and Japanese. Danny thought about Perry to contact her, but the latter said, "It's Carmilla, not me, who knows these languages." They simultaneously asked her if it was true. Carmilla appeared and confirmed she could speak them fluently. She advised them to take the folio and wait for the results from the others.

Carmilla contacted LaF to find out about their progress. The medication was ready. LaF successfully tested it on themselves. It was difficult to create a remedy compatible with all members of the cluster: without any tang or pungent scent, quickly digestible for all creatures. The cure was prepared as capsules.

LaF brought eight pills when they came to Silas by train. Then the bus took them straight to the university. They had only heard about it before but never seen it in person. LaF went to the gate where there was a campus map. The cafeteria was located almost in the middle of the territory, slightly northwest.

When they entered it, Danny waved her hand. LaF noticed the rest of the group were also there. Only tea was on the tables. The odour of coffee was too strong for vampires and werewolves owing to their sensitive olfactory system. Mel held a large book with a decorated cover. Laura had a tablet with her notes.

Mel noted, "Carmilla translated the instructions for the spell. To use it, you should give voluntary consent before we begin. It can be retracted anytime. I need you to agree to open your minds for me." 

Carmilla addressed Laura, "Did you find anything about Lilita, as I asked you?"

Laura responded, looking at her device, "Yes, she wants to open a new laboratory in Silas near this university. She announced she had great plans for it."

"It means she has plans for us. I guess she detected us through my sister,” replied Carmilla. “It probably happened in a period between the 'creation' of our cluster and her death. Mattie stopped taking blockers to give 'birth.' We should proceed immediately." She pointed at the book.

LaF said, "Today I've finished the medicine you required. Here it is." They took seven black capsules from their pocket and gave them to everyone. "It increases telepathic sensitivity. I already took one before coming here. The side effect is a severe headache and slight nausea due to the changes in the brain." The sensates swallowed the drug with tea.

Danny opened the page with the spell, then asked the sensates, "Do you agree?" Everyone said "yes." Perry took Carmilla's hand and started to read the magical words. When she finished, the effect was immediate. The cluster's members felt each other’s thoughts. In addition to that, some of their memories were shared: the first successful hunt, a joyful reaction to the invention of the steam train, Christmas with the whole pack, a homemade gingerbread house, a publication in the Silas newspaper, an official scientific patent, a ball of green yarn for bobcats, and a new silver knee-long dress as a present for exams passed with flying colours.

They registered someone with a strong mind who immediately tried to attack them. Lilita was whispering in their heads, "You are useless. You are nothing. Your so-called friends betray you as soon as possible and stab you in the back."

The sensates felt her try to control their bodies, so they concentrated to prevent it. It stopped and they were able to reverse the link. They used the same tactic back at her, "You hated whoever was happier than you. You couldn't achieve anything. Instead, you wanted to crush successes like a kid destroying sandcastles. You prefer to judge people by yourself - you killed your cluster after your manipulating them."

Lilita's fingers were directed into her eyes and they pierced them. Then she was slowly strangled with her own hands.

The cluster checked the situation. No activity was detected. Carmilla sighed with relief, "It's over. We avenged the death of my sister and her friends. Thanks to everyone for your help. Without each of us, we wouldn't have defeated our enemy. Now we can return to normal life."

Danny commented, "You can visit each other or speak with other members of our cluster if you want. Don't forget to ask in advance who you want to talk to."

LaF suggested meeting the next day, after the side effects vanished, and asked Danny to give them a tour of the university. Betty, Kirsh, and Laura agreed to join them. Carmilla offered to share the history of those places.


End file.
